3 X 3 tent: Updayday 500 watt light? 400 watt MH bulb? HLG300RedSPec? 2X Viparspectra XS1500pro?

tstick said:

As you can see, there are lots of different colors.....way more than on any other light I know of. Also, you can clearly feel warmth coming off the diodes if you hold your hand under them -not HID-hot, but still quite warm. I know the plants love that heat, too! Damn! I really love this light!

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I wonder what color those green diodes are. We can't get this light in Canada but it looks pretty cool.

waytoofaded said:

I wonder what color those green diodes are. We can't get this light in Canada but it looks pretty cool.

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Yeah and the extra cool thing is that the picture only shows a portion of the colors that are on in combination for their so-called "CMH" spectrum. There are four, pre-set spectrums built in, but you can also add/subtract the amount of red/blue and yellow and create your own custom spectrum. I have not done that because I am trying to avoid pressing the switches as much as possible. But there are several different shades of blue/purple.red, green, yellow, white, ultra violet and far red.....

I have the 500-watt version and it's supposed to have something like 2,888 leds.
I don't think anyone can get these lights anymore because it was one of those fly-by-night, Chinese manufacturers....etc. I had absolutely no expectations of it from the beginning. I almost chose to not use it. But, I'm glad I did because this thing has just been awesome and the plants love it. I just turned it up to the 50% mark on the dimmer and it's brighter than any light I have used so far, It also emanates a lot of heat from the leds -NOT the driver! I can touch the driver and it's just slightly warmer than ambient temperature (@ 50% power). But if I hold my had under one of the bars, it's quite warm. It's weird because that seems to be the opposite of my Viparspectra lights that have a warm driver but cool leds. Go figure.

Anyway...I'm going to baby my Updayday light and build a new custom cardboard box for it with some good styrofoam panels to store it in after this grow. I hope I can get at least one more good grow out of it....maybe try one of the other spectrums.... before the switches melt or something!

One quick note to add about the light....I just realized the dimmer switch is VERY inaccurate and I had the pointer set to what SHOULD have been ~40% of full power.....BUT, when I just tried to turn it up a bit, it didn't get any brighter....I guess meaning that the numbers on the dimmer were pretty much not even close! So, I guess I've been running it at full power. Well, anyway.....the plants are in flower mode now, so if I decide I need more light (doubtful), then I'll just add a Viparspectra xs 1500 Pro....but I don't think it will be necessary.

I THOUGHT it was particularly bright for what I thought was less than 1/2 power! Now I know why!

Again, the switches are shit!

tstick said:

One quick note to add about the light....I just realized the dimmer switch is VERY inaccurate and I had the pointer set to what SHOULD have been ~40% of full power.....BUT, when I just tried to turn it up a bit, it didn't get any brighter....I guess meaning that the numbers on the dimmer were pretty much not even close! So, I guess I've been running it at full power. Well, anyway.....the plants are in flower mode now, so if I decide I need more light (doubtful), then I'll just add a Viparspectra xs 1500 Pro....but I don't think it will be necessary.

I THOUGHT it was particularly bright for what I thought was less than 1/2 power! Now I know why!

Again, the switches are shit!

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It may very well be that its a failing dimmer aswell. If you can get the leads leading to the dimmer you should be able to replace it and maybe even get it to full power. Its not sure that 40 is max, it could be that its just the dimmer. Killawat meter will be able to tell you if this is a worthwhile endeavor.

Rocket Soul said:

It may very well be that its a failing dimmer aswell. If you can get the leads leading to the dimmer you should be able to replace it and maybe even get it to full power. Its not sure that 40 is max, it could be that its just the dimmer. Killawat meter will be able to tell you if this is a worthwhile endeavor.

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Hey Rocket Soul, this is off topic but I'm new around these parts, I've been spending a ton of time reading old threads, and you've been a huge contributor to this forum for what looks like a long time. I really appreciate all the knowledge you willingly share with the rest of us. I just wanted you to know its highly appreciated.

waytoofaded said:

Hey Rocket Soul, this is off topic but I'm new around these parts, I've been spending a ton of time reading old threads, and you've been a huge contributor to this forum for what looks like a long time. I really appreciate all the knowledge you willingly share with the rest of us. I just wanted you to know its highly appreciated.

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Thank you I like to think and i like to help. But go back further and you will see some who contributed much more than me. Look int0 @SupraSPL @alesh and a few more i cant @ tag anymore an youll see that more than anything ive just spent way to much time here repeating information that i read somewhere. Theres a lot who did a lot more than me. Theres simple problems that ive seen solved many times so when they come up me helping is more than anything me spending too much time with my mobile in my hand and having some kind of silly do gooder help fetish:/ Some times i stopp myself thinking do i really need to be in another thread of this? But i appreciate when anyone recognize the silly amount ive spent on this. Within soon this whole thing will hopefully bear some fruit outside of this little corner of the internet...

Rocket Soul said:

It may very well be that its a failing dimmer aswell. If you can get the leads leading to the dimmer you should be able to replace it and maybe even get it to full power. Its not sure that 40 is max, it could be that its just the dimmer. Killawat meter will be able to tell you if this is a worthwhile endeavor.

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The dimmer works, but the indexing (if you can call it that) is very inaccurate. When the pointer on the dial was pointing to ~40%, it was actually at full power. I checked it with a kill-a-watt meter, as you suggested, and it showed it was pulling 499.8 watts from the wall. The dimmer is now set to somewhere around 400 watts.
As I said, the switches are cheaper than the cheapest switches I've ever seen. That aside, the light is working fine. All diodes are lighting and the plants are loving it.

tstick said:

The dimmer works, but the indexing (if you can call it that) is very inaccurate. When the pointer on the dial was pointing to ~40%, it was actually at full power. I checked it with a kill-a-watt meter, as you suggested, and it showed it was pulling 499.8 watts from the wall. The dimmer is now set to somewhere around 400 watts.
As I said, the switches are cheaper than the cheapest switches I've ever seen. That aside, the light is working fine. All diodes are lighting and the plants are loving it.

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Then run ot as a test rig, figure out what you really like about it and then when dead you can build something of your own which has all the features you like of spectrum tweaking

Rocket Soul said:

Then run ot as a test rig, figure out what you really like about it and then when dead you can build something of your own which has all the features you like of spectrum tweaking

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Definitely! If and when it dies, I'm planning on opening it up and staring at it....for a log time..........and then mmmmmmmmaybe I could just fix the broken parts (which I'm sure will be one of the switches or dials).

After awhile of working under it, I got used to the CMH spectrum -kind of a more pink version of a pure MH spectrum....In my other 2 X 2 tent, I'm running one of the Viparspectra XS 1500 pros and even though it has enhanced reds, the spectrum look quite a bit more yellow/green compared to the Updayday's CMH spectrum.

I'm really hoping the company (or the designer) stays in business for a little while longer! It's just such a unique light at this point in time. I don't even know where I'd source parts. I've never seen diodes like these before....not that I know what's what in the diode world....but just saying....